How to Change Your Destiny
by RedvsGrimm
Summary: Born on the top makes falling to the bottom even harder. But Jaune is determined to prove that he has what it takes to be a hero. A strange find gives him the chance to prove it
1. Chapter 1

**How To Change Your Destiny. I do not own RWBY or any of the characters story was inspired by Coeur Al' Aran Forged Destiny, and takes place in the same world. FTW this is not an overpowered Jaune story.**

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**Chapter 1**

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The word Hero didn't mean much to Jaune

It didn't have any of the awe or inspiration attached to it like many would say. It certainly didn't mean a noble or chivalrous character to him.

A Hero to him was someone strong enough to be in the Hero caste, and anyone who wasn't strong enough was Soldier caste. that was it.

For a time Jaune thought he was part of the Hero caste

All while he was growing up it was what he was told. That he was a hero and someday he would get to go out on missions and protect innocent people just like every other hero in the stories.

All he had to do to begin his life as a hero was to pass his First Quest.

A relatively easy mission designed to sort the strong from the weak. His teachers assured him that the test was simply a formality for him. Whether or not people admit it some classes have an easier time getting through, it was usually low level and basic classes that dropped down to soldier caste so he wouldn't have a problem.

After all he was a Prestige Class

The best of the best when it comes to Heroes. So far ahead of their Hero peers that they have their own Caste. When a Prestige class is born they are raised to know they are special, and that someday they will go off and become some of the best heroes in recorded history, famous for what they do.

And Jaune Arc was no exception he was also famous.

For failing the First Quest.

It was completely unheard of for a Prestige class to fail so simple a quest. Especially in Mistral where they are held in even higher regard than anybody else.

The king even dragged his teachers before him and the council to explain themselves, believing that the fault had to be incompetent teaching.

It was at that time that the royals took a closer look at the young man they had met with years before, but didn't scrutinize to much. They didn't think they had to with his class hanging right above his head covering everything they needed to know.

Jaune, and right below that Dragon Rider.

A unique class even when compared against other unique classes.

In recorded history there was only ever one other Dragon Rider.

Despite how famous the original rider was not much was known about him. Only that he appeared one day to save a village that was being overrun, riding on the back of a fire-breathing monster.

Some say that he emerged alongside the dragon from an egg. Others say that he was a powerful mage who created the dragon. The story differs here from kingdom to kingdom as nobody knows exactly how the companionship happened.

So when Jaune was born a Dragon Rider nobody was too concerned that he hadn't been born with a dragon alongside him. They figured that that version of the story was incorrect and that eventually his dragon would come to him.

So he trained and waited.

Training wasn't easy. As a rider all of his skills are tailored towards him having a dragon. Even his passive, Ease the Burden, allowed him to let his mount move as if they had no extra baggage.

Very useful for a dragon who's flying speed and movement would improve.

Less useful for when Jaune is faced with a spiked gauntlet to the face, courtesy of his brawler combat teacher.

But as time moved on, Jaune still didn't find his dragon.

Despite being taken on expeditions deep into the wild in search of a dragon, and even trying to what historians had assured him was a "dragon call" that was just him creaming at the top of his lungs until he lost his voice, he didn't find anything.

A few years earlier an Elementalist had been born who could summon a Phoenix, and that had gotten the whole royal court on the idea that a dragon was actually a complicated summon.

They had brought in countless mages from Atlas who tried to coach him in the spells that they believed would summon his dragons.

none of them worked.

And then eventually it came time to take his First Quest.

When he failed that the king wasn't really sure what to do. He reasoned that they couldn't have a Prestige class among the Soldiers. The people looked up to the Prestige as mythical figures, if they saw one who could be so low they would lose faith.

But since he wasn't strong enough to be in the Hero caste the king decided that he would go away, a village deep in Mistralian countryside until he figured out how to get a dragon.

It took Jaune a while but he eventually noticed that the soldiers assigned to the village no longer looked at him with awe, they looked at him with pity, and the children were no longer excited to see him.

He had faded into the background of the small village, a novelty when he first arrived but eventually grew boring when they realized he was nothing special.

It made him furious.

He was a Prestige class, even if he was a weak one, he still stood above most heroes. He could use magic. Plus a lot of his training had been pushed aside so the royal court could figure out how to get him a dragon, so he figured that if had more time he could have leveled up more and passed.

Instead the king had decided to ship him off far into the countryside, to be forgotten until he could figure out how to find a mythical creature that nobody had seen for hundreds of years.

It was during those frustrating days that Jaune regretted being born a Prestige Class. Had he been a normal class he might have stood a chance, instead he had to deal with everyone who saw him knowing that he wasn't at his full potential.

His was a broken class, and the words above his head would be a reminder for the rest of his life.

Or so he thought...

As the medallions settled over his chest he watched the words above his head change.

It still read his name as Jaune, but the words below it shimmered and now it read Paladin.

He closed his eyes and checked his stats, they had stayed the same, the change was only appearance but that was all he needed.

That night he packed a bag and sneaked out of the village. Mistral was too risky, they already knew him here and the chances of someone recognizing him were too high. He decided to catch a ship to Vale and apply to beacon.

As his ship pulled away from the dock he stood leaning over a railing and looking up into the sky, wondering what it would be like to actually fly up there on the back of a dragon.

Right before he emptied his lunch over the side of the ship.

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**So this was a sort of introduction to what I would like the story to be. First time trying to write like this so I'm gonna try to keep going with the story. Once again inspired by Coeur Al'Aran.**


	2. Chapter 2

**How To Change Your Destiny. I do not own RWBY or any of the characters story was inspired by Coeur Al' Aran Forged Destiny, and takes place in the same world. **

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**Chapter 2**

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Arriving in the city of Vale brought mixed feelings from Jaune.

On the one hand he was glad to finally be done traveling.

When he got off the ship, to the relief of the crew, he found out that there was no direct transportation to the capital city. So he had to spend the next few days traveling with a group of merchants before they finally made their way to the city.

Not that traveling with the merchants was an unpleasant experience, In fact the son of one of the traders had broken his arm and asked Jaune if he could help since he was a "Paladin"

And that was one of the parts of his class that he didn't mind. Dragon Riders do have magic. And since he is supposed to be paired with a giant flying beast, his relatively weak healing spell actually does quite a lot to people. Despite his father being a Tradesman, his son was actually a Blacksmith. And after helping him they actually became friends.

So yeah, Jaune didn't mind the merchants but after several days of traveling around and sleeping on the ground he was ready to be done with them.

But on the other hand he was terrified to finally be at his destination. Here he was either going to pass his First Quest, though really his second, or he was going to fail once again.

The thought of having to deal with that disappointment, the pitying looks of the people who passed, and the sympathetic looks from other people who never actually thought they had a chance. It was to much. It made Jaunes hands shake from how hard he was clenching them.

Eyes hardened he promised himself that he would not fail again, he would become a hero or die trying.

Jaune idly noticed some other heroes walking down the road and towards the academy. He decided to join them.

As he and the others walked down the road crowds of civilians began to gather, probably to see the next generation of heroes before they became famous.

He saw several children approaching various heroes, and even received a tiny flower himself, from a little girl before she ran back to her mother.

It was a little startling to realize that he was receiving about the same amount of attention as all the other heroes around him.

Back in Mistral just being a Prestige class would have garnered the entire crowds attention leaving the rest of the heroes to walk on ignored.

It was with a shock that the full implications of the medallion hit him. He wasn't a Prestige anymore.

That mean't no favoritism, coddling from teachers, or special treatment. Whether he succeeded or failed now was entirely up to him.

To most that wouldn't have been anything new or special to find out. But it was enough to actually make him stop walking as his mind worked to fully understand that.

He watched heroes pass him on all sides now as the street now filled up. Scanning the crowd he nodded at the familiar classes, Warriors, Mages, Archers, he even saw an actual Paladin.

Unless that guy was also pretending to be one...

Narrowing his eyes at the alleged Paladin he made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, Excuse me." that was all he heard as he felt something push into him. The cloaked figure moved on before he could say anything back. Way smaller than him it looked like she was having a harder time navigating the crowd. Getting jostled by heroes too focused to even acknowledge that they were pushing her around. Eventually she slammed into the back of someone much bigger and went down. He was briefly concerned about people stampeding her until they started moving around her and he figured out that they actually were aware of how they were knocking her around.

He frowned at the way they all just moved past her. Back in Mistral they would never have left someone laying on the ground like that. Sighing he pushed through the crowd and made his way over to her.

"Need a hand?" Jaune asked. He knew she was smaller than him but up close she was even tinier, wearing a bright red cloak that matched her equally bright red cheeks. She took his hand and he easily pulled her up off the ground. Once she was up she pulled away and starting dusting off her clothing. But while she was doing that he got distracted by the class above her head. What the hell was a Reaper?

"T-thanks." her eyes flickered towards mine "I wasn't expecting it to be so crowded so early. And my sister just abandoned me so...sorry for running into you."

Oh right she was still in front me.

"Yeah" thanks Charisma, you always know what to say "I-I mean I can't believe so many people are here either, it's crazy." looking around it seemed like the entire street was packed with heroes now.

"Well this is Beacon, right." She said with a smile. "The best place to become a Hero in Vale. You only get the one chance after all."

"One chance..." the reminder that this was actually my second time trying to become a Hero made me grimace. All of these people were going to have to accept the outcome of their Quest while he gets to a do-over. Shame pooled in his stomach.

It seemed like the girl misinterpreted his expression because she stretched an arm up to lay it on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't be too worried." she smiled nervously at me "I mean you're a Paladin, even if you fail the Quest you could always become a healer."

And that added even more guilt to the pile, especially when she looked away. Clearly she didn't have that option, so while he could technically remain in the Hero Caste, she would be knocked down to the Soldier caste if she failed.

"Eh it's an alright plan but I have a better one." she looked at him curiously "If I fail ill hide myself in a box and you smuggle me back into Beacon."

She chuckled slightly.

"What makes you so sure i'll be in Beacon if you failed?"

"uh, cause me failing doesn't mean the test is hard." he looked at her with an exaggerated expression. "I once failed a wilderness survival test because chapter 1 was about building a fire and I used the rest of the book for kindling."

She looked at me for a few seconds before bursting into giggles. While Jaune watched smiling.

She recovered after a few moments and straightening back up, her eyes widening.

"Oh, I'm Ruby by the way, Ruby Rose." she pointed up at her name above her head. "I know it says it up there but my dad always said it's polite to introduce yourself anyway."

"I'm Jaune Arc." I laughed and held out a hand "Nice to meet you, Ruby."

She shook my hand before looking over her shoulder and back towards the crowd.

"Well I gotta go find my sister, but we can talk later right?" she said already backing away.

"Yeah, definitely, see you later Ruby."

She waved before starting down the road again, he lost her in the crowd a few moments later.

She really was tiny.

Arriving at Beacon was a very interesting moment for Jaune.

Seeing all the giant towers, columns, and windows painstakingly designed and put together was certainly fascinating. He guessed that being one of the best Hero schools in remnant had it's advantages.

But with all the obvious wealth that this school had, he wondered why they couldn't have a bigger meeting hall. As he was squished in with hundreds of other hero applicants he was sure that he wasn't the only one thinking that.

That was when a man strolled onto the stage. To far away for Jaune to see his class but his voice carried over the entire hall, everyone went silent to watch and listen.

"Ahem, You are the future of Vale, You are the future of more than just Vale, you are also the future of Remnant itself. But you believe that makes you the only such future, that there are not others who can rise to such an occasion. You are wrong. You are here today not because you are the future, but because you have the potential to protect that future - to guard those who need it most, those who rely on us for protection. Nothing will be handed to you, nothing will be gifted. Much will be expected. Perhaps should you stand before me once more tonight, I shall have different words for you. But for now I would ask you to direct your attention towards Miss Goodwitch, who will inform you of what may be the most important moment of your lives."

...

Damn. And Jaune thought he had a low charisma score. Was that supposed to be inspiring? Did that guy even really work here or had he just wandered on stage. Jaune shook his head as the lady, that the horrible inspirational speaker introduced, told them the details of their First Quest. It was similar enough to Jaunes actual First Quest. Ruined village, kill Grimm, don't get killed, survive and you're a hero. A lot of people wouldn't make it, most wouldn't die per se, but if they had to be rescued they would fail the Quest.

Miss Goodwitch finished up her speech telling them that they had one hour to roam around before the Quest started. And after she left the people around him started getting a little crazy.

Jaune managed to push his way through the crowd, muttering apologies as he bumped into people, until finally he made his way outside. There he found a nice piece of grass to relax on and sat down.

He wasn't as nervous as the others around him. A lot of the failures of this Quest came from the shock of seeing Grimm for the first time, so even if he had failed his first time he was more prepared now because of it.

But still the last time he had taken this test he had been a Prestige, that meant that everyone had given him a wide berth so that they didn't look bad just by comparison to him

ironic in hindsight

so unlike his peers he didn't have anybody else to rely on for when he couldn't handle things.

But now that he was a Paladin there shouldn't be any reason for people to avoid him. Hell, having a healer might actually be an attractive prospect to people.

Jaune looked around for anyone who he could team up with. he saw a group of four guys who looked like they were going to be teaming up but then he saw them turn away another guy who walked over, so probably not them.

The shadowy figures along the walls didn't look overly friendly, he noted a couple of them. One in particular that he noticed, an Assassin, was a dark haired cat faunus, he'd always wondered how their ears work. He spent a bit of time staring at them only to look a little lower and notice the faunus glaring at him. Whoops caught staring. He looked away from her.

He noticed another pair off to the side, a white haired girl and a red-haired girl. He could see that the white haired one was a mage but couldn't quite make out the red-haired girls class, she had golden armor though so she was probably a Melee class of some kind.

Either way he figured they were as good a prospect as any. So he stood up and wandered over just in time to hear the mage say something about teaming up to the redhead.

"Hey you guys planning on teaming up also, looking for one more?"

Both of them turned to look at me and he finally got a good look at the girls class.

Champion.

A Prestige class.

An actual Prestige class. Champions could face off against just about anyone and come out victorious. They were some of the most powerful warriors alive.

It probably wasn't fair to her but that made me angry. She was a Prestige class just like him,only she didn't have to deal with not being good enough. The odds of her failing the Quest were minimal, he wasn't even sure why she was bothering to team up.

"Well...I suppose our group could have room for another. Certainly a healer would be good to have." the Mage looked towards the Champion, who shrugged her shoulders.

Well that was unhelpfully thoughtful. What would be a good way to make them not want him in their group?

"Thanks Snow Angel."

The Mage responded right about the way he figured she would. She froze his legs to the ground and walked away. But unfortunately the Champion did not follow, she walked over to him with a smile.

"You, uh, want some help?"

"I wouldn't say no, to be honest." looking down at his frozen legs he wondered if that really was the best move.

"Here let me just-" She kicked the ice and it chipped away from his legs. "There you go"

"Thanks." he shook his legs to get some blood moving in them.

"I'm Jaune Arc." he said holding out his hand,which she shook

"Pyrrha Nikos"

He was a little confused as to why she was still here though.

"Why didn't you go with your teammate?" he said nodding in the direction the mage left. She looked a little sheepish, and scratched the back of her head.

"To be honest I didn't want to team up with her anyway, I was planning on just doing the Quest solo."

That made sense, Champions didn't really need anyone to do well. All he needed to do now was just step away and find someone willing to team up.

"Yeah that makes sense. I was hoping to team up though, I didn't really get a chance to level up." he shrugged

"Why didn't you get a chance to level up?"

It was an innocent question and he opened his mouth to answer before freezing. He couldn't exactly tell her that he'd spent the last few years trying to find a dragon and that was the reason he was so low level. Desperate for an excuse he thought back to the merchants he traveled with.

"Well my family was Labour Caste, so I didn't get many opportunities to earn exp." He was proud of his quick thinking. Pyrrha was staring at him with a confused look on her face.

"You were raised by NPCs?"

That was another thing he didn't miss about Mistral. When you're shunned by the Noble Caste, and both the Hero and Soldier Caste looked at you with pity, you spent most of your time talking to members of the Labour Caste.

The Blacksmiths, Shopkeepers, and Farmers that helped society to move.

Spending time with them he learned exactly how poorly treated most of them are, the other members of the Caste system treated them like they couldn't do anything but the simplest tasks. Hence the nickname, Need Protection Caste.

Some of his disdain must have shown on is face

"Oh no,I have nothing against the Labour Caste." she rushed to assure him. "I think they play a very important role in our society. And it is our duty to protect them"

It was not a great explanation, or apology, but she actually did look sincere so he decided to just give her a break.

"it's no problem. I just don't like that term" Jaune smiled at her though, and that seemed to calm her down. "I gotta go find someone to team up with though so i'll see you around."

"Oh...well, if you wanted to, i'd-"

But spotting the group of robed figures walking from the Academy. He figured that his time had run out.

"I'll see ya later Pyrrha."

The group stopped and called over all the beginning heroes. Mrs. Goodwitch was among the group, and began explaining the rules of the Quest. They would be opening a portal to the location of the First Quest. If you have to be rescued, or if you die, you fail. Simple.

As the group of robed figures began to make the portal, Jaune took a deep breath.

All right second time trying this, failure was no longer an option, he had been given a second chance and he was not going to blow it.

When the portal opened people began walking through, and Jaune was pushed, by the wall of bodies behind him, along with them. Closing his eyes as he walked into it and the cold sensation hit him.

When he was through he opened them to see the terrain of a small ruined village, some people already running ahead will others lingered around the portal either waiting for their teammates or just in plain fear.

Steeling his nerves Jaune drew Crocea Mors and started towards the village. He would prove that the royals of Mistral were wrong, just because he didn't have a dragon didn't mean that he was useless. He had what it took to be a hero.

His eyes hardened and he moved forward.

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**Ok so I tried to just keep the momentum of writing the first chapter going so that I don't stop writing it for weeks. I'm still figuring this out so I know there are problems with it. Still gonna keep trying with it though. Once again inspired by Coeur Al'Aran**


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